American student shot by Israelis loses eye– but Obama is emasculated

Just now in an international IMEU call, Adam Shapiro mentioned the American demonstrator whose eye was knocked out by the Israelis yesterday as she took part in a peaceful protest at the Qalandiya crossing. Emily Henochowicz, who goes to Cooper Union, he said, shot in the face. He called on the American government to say something. Also mentioning Emily Henochowicz’s injury is Scott McConnell at the American Conservative:

One of the most telling lines in the coverage of the Israeli assault on the Gaza flotilla was this, from the New York Times:

[O]ur emasculated president cannot let evidence of his knowledge seep out. Under Obama, US policy has hardly changed since George W. Bush. As under Bush, there have been speeches made about the need for Palestinian statehood, and many (myself included) assumed that Obama understood and believed what he has been saying. But the follow-up has been a craven submission to the Israel lobby. Last month, it seemed not a day went by without a high administration official conveying his administrations’s undying love for Israel. The cherry on top was a “private” visit to the occupied Golan Heights by Rahm Emanuel, unprecendented for an official American representative. It was a way of signaling the Israel, its lobby in the United States, and the entire rest of the world that American policy is not changing, will not change, cannot change. Washington will support the occupation no matter what.

The United States, according to the State Department “regrets” the loss of life caused by Israel’s piracy. The tepid language no doubt foreshadows further American protection of Israel in the security council. Why? Israeli newspapers –which operate in a more robust manner than American ones, attribute Obama’s submission to the Israel lobby campaign contributions, which the Democratic party desperately needs. Campaign finance reform,a key plank of the Reform Party in 2000, is more necessary than ever.

One wonders whether there is anything, anything, that Israel can do which would force America to say no, that’s enough. Bar Noam Chomsky from speaking at Bir Zeit University, check. Blast out an eye of an American girl peacefully protesting the flotilla assault, no problem. Start a war with Iran and endanger America’s troops throughout the region, on the agenda.

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